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Digital transformation is one of the key concepts attached to the smart cities’ domain. The requirement to enhance strategically the way that business is delivered around different areas is a critical milestone for the digital transformation agenda and also for business performance management. In this short position chapter, we are focusing on the area of healthcare and we are providing key insights and lessons learned from Saudi Arabia. The main contribution of the chapter is a structured discussion on a digital healthcare strategy in the context of smart cities.

Empowered patients are allies to the healthcare system, especially in emergency situations. Social media use has emerged to be a major means by which patients interact with the healthcare system, and in times such as the current COVID-19 situation social media has to play an even greater crisis management role by empowering patients. Social media channels serve numerous beneficial purposes, despite them also being blamed for the spread of misinformation during this crisis. In this Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) focused case study, we will discuss the increasingly greater role being played by the social media in healthcare in the region and how that empowers not just the patients but the system as a whole. In the GCC region, the healthcare sector is found to reflect a steady growth, leading to an increased drive for empowering patients by lowering the barriers to effective communication and consultation through online media. As of today, social media has become an element of the telehealth infrastructure being deployed in the region. During COVID-19, patients are seen to leverage it pointedly for online health consultations thereby lowering the stress on the healthcare system and adding to efficiencies.

The higher education world around us is changing fast. Mobile learning (M-learning) and apps in education are new and exciting. However, this does not mean that the faculty is less relevant. On the contrary, the faculty are an ever-important factor that is needed to increase student engagement. Disengaged students are in fact more problematic than low achieving students. This is because of the disruption disengaged student bring in the classroom. Therefore, increasing student engagement is a key challenge in higher education today. Research suggests that active learning, value and expectations are important factors that determine student engagement. Some of these factors can be indirectly influenced by the faculty and course designers. Against this background, the objective of this chapter is to examine if dwindling student engagement in higher education can be addressed with CURPA, i.e. a CURriculum and course planning (CURP) App. CURPA is the result of our efforts at Utrecht University to help design courses and curricula by using cards to account for different activities, with the strategic aim being to stimulate student engagement in higher education. Our expert interviews resulted in a MoSCoW-prioritised list of requirements that can be implemented over time, structured in line with Becker's student engagement model.

One of the most challenging aspects in the health care industry is to understand the nuances and strategies of those companies that provide both B2B and B2C services, apart from being supported by their management team, quality officers, the HR Manager, the clinicians, the doctors, and the holistic support of all staff. This case study focusses on analyzing the various indicators of success of The Health Medical Services (THMS), a major service provider in the health care sector, serving both B2B and B2C markets in the UAE and the organizational factors that drove the service provider to success, creating an exceptional experience for both their internal and external customers. The unique success drivers of THMS, as brought out by the current study include Customer Relationship Management, unique leadership style, employee engagement, market orientation, Quality Circles, patient-centric care, and service innovation in health care that supports their sustainability and scalability. Moreover, a literature review on the success drivers brings out the academic implications of the study.

The research analyzes good practices in health care “management experimentation models,” which fall within the broader range of the integrative public–private partnerships (PPPs). Introduced by the Italian National Healthcare System in 1991, the “management experimentation models” are based on a public governance system mixed with a private management approach, a patient-centric orientation, a shared financial risk, and payment mechanisms correlated with clinical outcomes, quality, and cost-savings. This model makes public hospitals more competitive and efficient without affecting the principles of universal coverage, solidarity, and equity of access, but requires higher financial responsibility for managers and more flexibility in operations.

In Italy the experience of such experimental models is limited but successful. The study adopts the case study methodology and refers to the international collaboration started in 1997 between two Italian hospitals and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC – Pennsylvania, USA) in the field of organ transplants and biomedical advanced therapies.

The research allows identifying what constitutes good management practices and factors associated with higher clinical performance. Thus, it allows to understand whether and how the management experimentation model can be implemented on a broader basis, both nationwide and internationally. However, the implementation of integrative PPPs requires strategic, cultural, and managerial changes in the way in which a hospital operates; these transformations are not always sustainable.

The recognition of ISMETT’s good management practices is useful for competitive benchmarking among hospitals specialized in organ transplants and for its insights on the strategies concerning the governance reorganization in the hospital setting. Findings can be used in the future for analyzing the cross-country differences in productivity among well-managed public hospitals.